The Human as an

Embodied Spirit
 Objectives

◈ Recognize one’s limitations and possibilities

◈ Evaluate one’s limitations and the possibilities
for their transcendence
◈ Recognize how the human body imposes limits
and possibilities for transcendence.
◈ Distinguish the limitations and possibilities for
transcendence
.
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 Key Terms

◈ Man – the general term commonly used to refer to the entire

human race
◈ Human – refers to man as a species
◈ Human being – used to distinguish man from other animals
◈ Person – refers to a human being granted recognition of
certain rights, protection, responsibilities, and dignity above all.
It is the totality of an individual, possessing awareness, self-
determination, and the capacity to interact with others and
with him/herself.
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 Key Terms

◈ Personhood – refers to the state of being a person

◈ Human nature – refers to the characteristics (like thinking,
feeling, and acting) that distinguish humans from all other
creatures. These traits are considered to form the essence of
humanity, and without them, an individual may not be
considered a human person.

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 Key Terms

◈ The Cognitive Self (something within and cannot be physically seen)

is the essential components of a human persons that deals with THE
WHAT OF A PERSON which includes human persons’ belief, desire,
dreams, and intentions.
◈ the Physical Self (something can be seen in his/her physical
appearance) which deals with the essential features of the human
way of life or THE WHO OF A PERSON which includes his/her body
type, strength and appearances.

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 What is the human person?

Person

Is able to reach
Has awareness of Has self
out and interact Has dignity
self determination
with others

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 Self-awareness

◈ Refers to the person having a clear perception of

oneself, including his thoughts, emotions, idneity
and actions. This awareness goes beyond perception
and reaction to the environment. We have deeper
awareness that is driven by rationality or human
thought.
◈ A person is aware of both his surroundings and
himself. He knows that he is living and experience
and is an active participant in this experience.
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 Self-awareness

◈ This awareness gives rise to the notion of the ‘self’

which the philosophers describe as the person which is
actively aware that he is perceiving and experiencing
reality.
◈ This awareness of the self also enables us to experience
an ‘inner world’ that is defined by our personal thoughts
and ideas. We experience interiority, that is, the quality
of being focused on one’s inner life and identity. This
interiority enables us to practice creativity.
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 Let us examine

◈ Little Carlo is playing in the living room while his

mother is in the kitchen. He accidentally bumps into
a table, causing a vase to fall. Upon hearing, his
mother went to the living room and saw him
standing near the broken vase. She asked, ‘did you
break the vase?’
◈ What do you think Carlo’s answer will be?

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 Self-determination

◈ This refers to the capability of persons to make choices

and decisions based on their own preferences, monitor
and regulate their actions, and be goal oriented and self-
directed. We are person because we act and we are
aware of our actions.
◈ Our free will enables us to do actions wherever we want
to make and make various alternatives. The existence of
free will enables a person to act willfully, control his
actions, and recognize himself as the source of action.
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 Self-determination

◈ Consequence is the result or effect of an action or

condition. Philosophers believe that a person acts freely
and with due regard for the consequence of his actions.
◈ Morality is the goodness or ‘badness’ of an act.
◈ Human action is such an important aspect of the person
that many philosophers consider human action as a way
to reveal a person’s true nature.

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 Externality

◈ This refers to the capability of a person to reach out

and interact with others and the world.
◈ The realization that we are not alone and that tere
are indeed other people around us enables us to
react out and establish meaningful relationship with
others.

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 Externality

◈ Philosophers consider man as a social being and that a

person never exist in isolation. Man has the natural
tendency to seek out fellow human beings, and the
relationships established by this interaction is a vital
component for a survival.
◈ Our interaction with others define our existence as
persons. We grow and develop not only through our
thoughts and actions, but also through the influence of
other people in our lives, and the individuals we meet and
interact with. 13
 Dignity

◈ This refers to the innate right to be valued and respected.

Philosophers consider all humans as having an inherent
worth or value. “You are worthless!” is an insult since it
attacks the very notion of a person having value or worth.
◈ Each person is worth the same as another person in the
sense that every person is priceless, unique, unrepeatable
and irreplaceable. No person is dispensable or
interchangeable. This is why experience PoS.

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 Dignity

◈ Human dignity is rooted in the nature of the human being,

meaning, a person has dignity simply because of the fact that
he is human.
◈ Dignity is not defined by outside factors like intelligence,
beauty, skills, etc.
◈ A person retains his dignity in site of his actions or behavior.
◈ Dignity also drives us to seek what is good. The recognition of
dignity is also the basis for the recognition off human rights.

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What is in our nature that enables us to become persons?

◈ Aside from the physical characteristics, another

person aspect of the human that defines us a person
is the spirit. This intangible element enables us to
exercise thought, possess awareness, interiority, and
the capacity to reach out to the outside world and
other persons.

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 The Human Person is an Embodied Spirit
◈ Philosophers consider
the human person as
defined by the union of
the body and the spirit.
◈ The body and spirit are
not only united but they
are integrated with each
other.
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◈ Science: Love is a result of
various biological reaction
associated with hormonal
increase affecting the body.
◈ Philosophy: Human persons
do not love with the heart
nor the brain but with their
entire being. Embodiment is
the ne things that enables us
to feel love and love others.
 Embodiment

◈ The human body stands as the mediator

between the materials world and the spiritual
world. Being an embodied spirit, the person is
able to encounter the world of objects (and
other personal objects) in a manner that
transcends the physical. This feature allows him
to form intimate relationship with those outside
him.

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 Embodiment

◈ Human embodiment allows persons to attach

certain feelings or ideas not only to people but
also to objects.
◈ With human embodiment, physical acts are no
longer purely physical acts because the body
conveys somethings from a person’s inner
world.

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How does my human nature enable me to explore my
limits?

◈ Human nature still has limits despite an embodied

spirit. It can be said that the person is very
biologically deficient being. We do not have the
natural ability to fly, etc.
◈ Despite these limitations, we have our intellect to
devise means to achieve several feats.
◈ The ability to surpass limits is called transcendence,
an important trait that distinguishes humans from
other beings in existence.
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 Transcendence

◈ Although we have physical limits, we can

transcend them because of our spiritual
dimension.
◈ Each individual carries within himself the
possibility of transcending his limits by exerting
enough effort and perseverance.

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 Transcendence

◈ Philosophy gives us useful tools to explore our

limits and possibilities. The essence of
transcendence is to acknowledge our
limitations, identify possibilities for
development and change ourselves for the
better.
◈ Opening oneself to new experiences and ideas
is another aspect of transcendence.

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Ramon C. Reyes
 Historical
Lines of
Events

Physical Line
of Events Man Social Lines
of Events

Interpersonal
Line of
Events

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 Physical Lines of Events

◈ man as a point of intersection of natural events

◈ psychobiological organism
◈ nature follows the principle of conservation of
mass and energy whereby the totality of energy
in the world is constant: what happens is simply
that energy goes from one form into another

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 Physical Lines of Events

◈ Although you and I are really more or less 50 billion

years old, each of us is a different type of cross—point.
One might be thin, another might be a bit fattish;
another might be muscular; and the psychologists tell
us that depending upon whether you are thin, fat,
muscular, you have a certain type of temperament. The
point is that each one of us finds himself or herself as a
certain gift of nature. You did not design yourself. At a
certain point in our lives
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 Physical Lines of Events

◈ Man is a ' cross-point of physical events and

he—is conscious of himself as a cross-point. He
is conscious of the natural environment that
brought him about as a point of intersection of
these trend-lines of the world. So, he is
conscious; and because he is conscious, he is
conscious of himself in his limitations. And he is
conscious of himself in his possibilities.

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 Physical Lines of Events

◈ You are a cross-point of physical events with a

certain consciousness of your limitations and
possibilities, you are a source of creativity
◈ As a conscious point of intersection, you have a
certain power, a certain creativity for future
lines of physical events to come together or to
separate. As a creative agent, you can transform
nature; you can deform nature.

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 Interpersonal Lines of Events

◈ The psychologist tells us that your personality

right now, to a great extent, was determined by
the relationship you had and still have with your
mother and with your father, and then, by your
relationships with your brothers and sisters, your
peers, your friends. Therefore, your personality
right now is not just you. To a great extent, you as
a personality are a fruit of intersecting personal
lines coming together in you.
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 Interpersonal Lines of Events

◈ We are different persons and the difference lies not only

in our physical body but also in that each one of us
constitutes a different type of point of intersection of
personal lines of events.
◈ You are not simply a product of personal lines, but you
are conscious.
◈ You are conscious of yourself as an interpersonal cross-
point. You are conscious of yourself as a person with
certain limitations and certain possibilities.
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 Interpersonal Lines of Events

◈ Insofar as you are conscious of limitations and

conscious of possibilities, you are a source of activity,
you are a source of creativity because insofar as you are
a point of intersection ‘of past personal lines of events,
you will also be the cause of future points of
intersection of personal lines of events or the cause of
separation of personal lines of events.

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 Social Lines of Events

◈ You are this time a social point of intersection of

social events, you are a social product.
◈ deja Ia, you are already there
◈ Whether you like it or not, you are of a certain
quality, a certain type for better or for' worse,
precisely because you are a point of intersection of
social events.
◈ you are conscious, conscious of limitations and
possibilities, again you are a source of creativity
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 Historical Lines of Events

◈ Man finds himself as a fruit of historical lines of

events. Because of history you emerge at a
certain period, a certain point and it is not
within your control, at least the past is not. We
can go through various strands of the history
not only of our country but of the world that
has generated us.

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 Historical Lines of Events

◈ As historical products, we have to start from a certain set

of data given. We cannot deny the facts of our past.
◈ As a point of intersection of historical processes, we have
to start from a certain set of past historical facts. 0n the
other hand, as we become conscious of ourselves as
historical products, we also become aware of the
historical possibilities that we have. And becoming aware
of the limits as well as of the possibilities of history that
are in us, we become a source of historical creativity.
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◈ you become conscious of yourself as a person
of meaning - a source of creativity.
◈ side from our physical task, aside from our
interpersonal task, aside from our social and
historical tasks, there is what I might call an
existential task, which ultimately determines the
meaning of our personal life.

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 Summary

◈ “a social reformer must be able to serve not only as a

conscience of his own individuality but as the conscience of his
own society.”
◈ Framework: I am task/destiny, I am responsibility
◈ A mature person is one who can look at his life as destiny, a
destiny which is not perfect, but it is what I am. It is destiny, it is
my calling, it is ultimately my vocation, it is what makes me, me.
◈ Ultimately the meaning of my life will depend upon the
response to that destiny that life has placed me in.
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End